Guardian of Magic
by aForgottenWeasley
Summary: Darkness is threatening to take over Hermione. Frantically searching for a solution, Draco finds answers but they're not what he expected. With all options possibly leading to someone's death, who is he willing to sacrifice?
1. Chapter 1

**AURTHOR'S NOTE: I like writing short-fics because I like getting straight to the point; straight to the drama or whatever I'm writing. I don't like writing long stories and filling half of it with filler chapters so if that's what you're looking for, I'm sorry it's not here. **

**Now I'm still experimenting with different genres and this is my take on drama/mystery. If this totally blows, just tell me and I'll be glad to go back to what I'm comfortable with.**

**_What you should expect in this: _Draco and Hermione are close friends. Hermione moved in with Draco at Malfoy Manor; Narcissa fell into depression when Lucius got locked away in Azkaban so she barely speaks to anyone. Harry, Ginny, and Ron don't really like Draco but they still talk to Hermione whenever they can.**

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><p><em>She was walking through the forbidden forest again. A dark green cloak wrapped around her shoulders and her face hidden within the shadows of the hood. The chilly air nipped at her bare feet although she couldn't see them because the forest floor was covered in a think blanket of fog. She didn't know why she was in the forest in the first place and she didn't know where she was going, but her feet seemed to know exactly where to go.<em>

_It was a dream, of course. She had dreamt of this place twice before. The first time was two weeks ago, but the dream had quickly vanished as her bare feet touch the cold earth and she awoke immediately. The second time was only last week and she got a bit further into the forest but as she came across a herd of Centaurs, she quickly awoke again; all traces of the dream gone. And now, this being the third week she had gotten the same dream, she got even further. When she came upon the herd of Centaurs, they made no indication that they knew she was there. She walked silently beside them and heard them muttering amongst each other but no-one glanced in her direction._

_Following the path that her feet were currently leading her, she came across a more suitable walking path that lead into a darker section of the forest. She tried to turn around and head back into the lighter part of the forest but it was no use. Her feet kept her moving forward._

_She finally came to a sudden stop and tried to take in her surroundings. Being that it was darker than earlier, she could only make out the outlines of trees and boulders. She found herself in a circular clearing, trees and boulders surrounding her but that was all she could make out. _

_She suddenly got the feeling that she wasn't alone anymore. It wasn't like the Centaurs earlier who had ignored her presence. It was different; very different. Someone or something knew she was there and they were watching her._

_Drawing the cloak tighter to her body and making sure she kept her face hidden, she turned in every direction and tried to make out anything unusual. Her feet slid over the cold, mossy earth and every now and then, she cracked a twig beneath her feet. Since she couldn't exactly see what was beneath the fog, she didn't see that she kept moving closer and closer to a fallen tree log. A few steps further and she finally tripped, falling hard on her bum and getting her cloak wet with the damp earth._

_Sighing to herself, she felt around for the log she tripped over and pulled herself up; sitting on top of the log._

"_You're late." a voice whispered from behind, right next to her left ear. Upon hearing the voice, the girl in the cloak froze and listened with all her might; hoping and praying that the voice she just heard was a figment of her imagination. "I've been trying to lure you here for the past two weeks but you never came."_

_The voice slightly louder and much more clearer; sending a chill up and down the girl's spine. She knew that voice. She once came face to face with the owner of that voice. But the owner of that voice was dead. Has been dead for the past six years._

_Gathering up her courage, the girl in the cloak turned herself slowly to face the person who spoke to her. As she lifted her head, she came face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange. _

_Heart thumping wildly behind her ribcage, the girl screamed and fell backwards off the log._

**. . .**

**. . .**

"Granger! Granger, wake up. You fell asleep in the library again." Hermione's eyes snapped open and she immediately shot upward, bumping heads with Draco. He flinched as he rubbed the newly formed red spot on his forehead. "Calm down. It's still dark out and it's the weekend. You're not late for work or anything." Hermione, who wasn't paying attention to a word Draco was saying, kept patting and feeling her shoulders and head. It was as if any moment now she'd pull off the cloak she was just wearing in the middle of the forest and it would confirm her fear. "Snap out of it, Granger." Draco waved his hand in front of her face. "It was only a nightmare."

Hermione, who finally realized that someone was speaking to her, looked up at him. "How do you know I was having a nightmare?"

"Well," Draco spoke as he took a seat where Hermione's head was just moments before. "You were squirming in your sleep and you kept muttering about someone being dead and you were also whimpering as well." He laid his arm across the back of the medium-sized reading sofa that they were both currently sitting on and Hermione took that as her chance to scoot closer to him and curl up in his side. "Care to let me in and know what that was about?"

She shook her head. "It was just a nightmare. Just a dream. It's nothing." Draco let his arm fall to her shoulders and held her closer, laying his cheek on top of her head. "Is your Mother still awake or did she finally fall asleep?"

"She's asleep." Draco answered. "Wheezy fed Mother her medications and led her up to bed."

Hermione nudged Draco in the ribs. "I really wish you would stop calling him _Wheezy!_ His name is Winston." She playfully scolded him as best she could. The dream was still fresh in her memory but she didn't feel like discussing her dream with Draco.

"I can't help it. He loves his name, but he loves his nickname even more." Draco chuckled.

"House elves." She sighed. "I'll never understand them."

The two quickly fell into a comfortable silence, the only sound being that of their steady breathing. The library was dimly lit, only being lit up from the light the moon gave off and peeked through the curtains over the windows. Sensing that there neither of them were going to speak again, Hermione's eyes started to droop and she could feel herself drifting off to sleep.

"_Back so soon?" a voice sounded in her head. The voice sounded sweet. Sickly sweet._

Hermione's eyes quickly snapped open once again and she leapt up from the sofa, slightly trembling. Unconsciously gripping her arm, Hermione stumbled away from the sofa and a confused looking Draco. "I, uh, I'm going to bed. Night!" And she rushed out of the room before Draco could bid her sweet dreams.

She stumbled up a couple of stairs but quickly regained her footing and rushed the rest of the way into the wing of the house that she shared with Draco. Being that she was close friends with Draco for a couple of years already, he offered her a place to stay when she had nowhere else to go. The Weasley's Burrow was overcrowded with people and Grimmauld Place was the house of a newly engaged couple. She didn't like the idea of intruding in on their privacy and when Draco ran the idea of her moving into Malfoy Manor, she quickly accepted. Mrs. Malfoy had been sick ever since Lucius got sent to Azkaban that she didn't care about anything anymore. Hermione rarely ever crossed paths with the Lady of the house so she was comfortable living there.

Finally coming up to the door that led to her bedroom, she threw it open and quickly locked it behind her after she entered. Her hand immediately went back to her arm that bore her 'mudblood' scar and she stroked it over her shirt. Without really thinking about it, she pulled off her long-sleeve shirt and stopped in front of a large mirror standing in the corner of her room. Glancing down at her arm, the scar that she now always covered with long-sleeves, was bright red and sensitive to her touch. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she did not let them fall.

After examining her scar, for what seemed like hours, she pulled her shirt back on, walked backwards and curled up on her bed in the middle of her room. She clutched a pillow to her chest and stared at the wall that had a built-in bookcase from ceiling to floor. Of course, being Hermione Granger, the bookcase was filled with books.

Sighing, she sat up and crawled beneath her bed covers and stared up at the ceiling that was enchanted to show off twinkling stars.

She had known of only one person with a cursed scar and that person just happened to be Harry Potter, the boy whose scar would hurt every time the Dark Lord felt a powerful emotion. But her scar couldn't possibly be cursed or connected to Bellatrix Lestrange.

_Could it?_

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><p><strong>Sorry it was so short, but I hope it was just enough to get you hooked :) The rest of the chapters are still in the "editing" process so the next chapter will be up in the next couple of days!<strong>

**Leave your complaints or compliments in a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I feel like this is really crappy, but since I already posted the first chapter.. there's no deleting. Oh well, the story must go on -_-**

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><p>Hermione woke up the following morning to someone fluffing up the pillows beneath her head and the clanking of silverware echoing around her room. Remembering that she had made a dash to her bedroom last night, she was confused as to why there was the clanking of silverware since she wasn't anywhere near the dining or kitchen area. She opened up her eyes and saw a tiny house-elf scurrying about her room and a tray of food over her stomach. Winston, Malfoy's house elf, was opening up the curtains to Hermione's room and letting in the bright morning sun.<p>

"Winston, what is all this?" Hermione gestured to her tray of food and sitting up as carefully as she could without knocking anything over. "Did I miss breakfast?"

Winston's wide eyes found Hermione's and he quickly shook his head from left to right, ears flopping wildly. "Oh, no, no, no. Master Malfoy said that Miss Granger was acting oddly last night and he only figured you might be becoming ill." The elf told her. "I is only doing as Master says. He wanted you to be comfortable when you woke up and not have to join him all the way down in the dining room."

"Oh. Well thank you." Hermione yawned as her eyes swept over the plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast. She picked up the cup of coffee that was also there and blew on it before taking a sip. "Will you please tell Draco _thank you _as well?"

Winston nodded and bowed to Hermione. "As you wish, Miss." And with a _crack!, _he disappeared.

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It was after 12 in the afternoon when Hermione found herself walking out of the bathroom that was connected to her room. After she had finished her breakfast-in-bed, she pushed the empty tray to the end of the bed instead of calling Winston back into her room. She had curled up again and thought about last night's dream, but thinking that she was just being silly, she pushed all thoughts of her dream out of her mind.

A long scalding hot bath full of apple scented bubbles and a quick hot shower to rinse away all the suds later, Hermione found herself roaming the house in her pajamas.

Her mind seemed to have gone hazy and she was just following the path that her feet led her. She passed many scowling portraits of Draco's ancestors in the halls, but thanks to a handy _silencing charm_ placed on them by Draco himself, she didn't have to hear any rude comments that they were most likely spitting in her direction. She suddenly stopped in front of a set of double doors and she turned to face them. The hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood on edge and before she even knew what she was doing, she pushed the doors open.

There, before her very eyes, was the sitting room that she had always avoided since she had moved in. The very same sitting room in which she was tortured by Bellatrix. In the back of her mind, she knew she shouldn't be there but she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried.

It was almost as if she could hear the faint echo of an evilly cackling Bellatrix in the back of her mind so she shook her head back and forth to make it stop. When her mind finally cleared and she was able to move again, her eyes widened and before she could run away from the location, a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Hermione?" Draco whispered. "What are you doing?" He glanced back and forth between a fear-filled Hermione and the room he usually avoided now too.

"I, um, I was just.." She watched as Draco stepped forward and pulled the doors together, shutting off their view of the room. She didn't want to tell him that she had no idea why she was staring in the room. It was like her dream again, only she was awake during this. Her feet led her even though she didn't know what she was doing and she couldn't move to go in any other direction. And now, she could feel the slight sensation of her scar burning beneath the sleeve of her shirt. "Nothing. I wasn't doing anything." She finally answered. "I'll see you later. I need to visit with Ginny before she hexes me for not visiting her enough."

And without another word, Hermione hurried from Draco's presence, out the front door, and disapparated once she was at the apparating zone.

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Since it was the weekend, Hermione knew that Ginny would be at her parent's house; the Burrow. She had apparated right outside of the front gate and made her way up the newly made path to the front door. She only had to knock twice on the door before it was thrown open and she was engulfed in a warm hug, her feet completely leaving the ground.

"Blimey, Hermione. I thought you had forgotten about us."

"It's nice to see you too, George." Hermione hugged him back. "Now can you please set me down before I get sick all over the back of your vest?"

George quickly set her down and the cheesy grin he was wearing instantly vanished. "What's happened, love? You're paler than Malfoy!" He pointed out.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but George was pushed out of the way and Mrs. Weasley took his place. "Hermione, dear, are you sick?" She asked as she pulled Hermione into a motherly hug. "Is Malfoy not feeding you properly?"

George snickered from behind his Mum and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why is it that whenever something is wrong, you lot and especially Harry and Ron, immediately think Draco has had something to do with it?"

"Force of habit, dear. I'm sorry." Mrs. Weasley assured her. "Come, come. I'll fetch you a _Pepper-Up potion _and there's plenty of food to go around in the kitchen.

She dragged Hermione out of the front door entrance and towards the kitchen with George trailing behind them. She had barely stepped a foot into the kitchen and the next moment she had three people fighting to wrap their arms around her first. They had somehow managed to make it to the table before the questions were shot off all at the same time.

"Malfoy finally let you out, eh?"

"You're kind of pale, Hermione, are you all right?"

"What has the ferret done to you? You want me to hex him?"

Hermione was scowling at her three friends when Mrs. Weasley intervened. "She's only coming down with the flu." She handed Hermione the potion and watched her gulp it down. "Now she's about to eat some lunch and put some weight on her frame. No more questions."

The Weasley clan, plus Harry, let Hermione eat in peace and then they all made their way into the living room. Ginny and Harry took up the loveseat in the room while Mrs. Weasley took up the chair that Mr. Weasley usually sat in when he was home from work. George, Hermione, and Ron took up the long couch and they all waited for Hermione to speak.

The potion that Mrs. Weasley had fed Hermione earlier had worked wonders and she seemed like her normal self again. She was leaning more towards George and her head eventually fell onto his shoulder. Hermione didn't want to be the one to break the silence so she waited for someone else to do it instead.

To her relief, George spoke. "So how's life at Malfoy Manor?"

So much for her relief.

Ron scowled, Mrs. Weasley quickly left the room, Harry averted his gaze to the fireplace, and Ginny dropped her gaze to her lap. "It's fine." Hermione answered. "It's been fine since day one and it's going to continue to be fine in the future." Ron snorted and Hermione whipped her head in his direction, eyes narrowing at him. "I came here to visit with you lot to catch up but if you all just want to find out if Malfoy is being horrible or not, I'll guess I'll just be leaving."

Ever since Hermione had told them of her moving in with Draco, no-one supported her decision. Ron tried persuading her to move into the Burrow with him and George, and Ginny tried to assure her that she could live at Grimmauld Place with her and Harry. Even though Hermione adored Mrs. Weasley, she couldn't live in a place where she was expected to follow every single rule as if she were still a child. As for Grimmauld Place, she just didn't want to intrude on their upcoming married life.

"No! Please don't." Ginny jumped to her feet before Hermione could stand up herself. "They won't talk anymore about Malfoy. I promise." Hermione sighed and searched Ginny's eyes for any sign of being lied to. When she found none, she re-took her seat between an amused looking George and a scowling Ron.

"So.." Hermione paused. "How are, um, the wedding plans coming along?" She asked and all three men in the room groaned.

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Hermione had returned back to Malfoy Manor at around 8 at night. She was only walking through the front door when she was greeted by Draco walking towards the staircase. He stopped mid-step and smiled at her. "Fun time with the gang?"

Hermione smiled weakly at him and nodded her answer, walking up to him and joining him in heading upstairs to their wing of the house. "Remind me, next time I visit, not to ask Ginny about her wedding plans." She sighed and continued walking.

"Will do."

The two of them continued on in silence until they entered their wing of the house. Draco had stopped right before his door and Hermione stopped with him.

"Hey," She turned to face him. "You wouldn't happen to have some dreamless draught in your bathroom cabinet, would you?" The face of Bellatrix loomed in Hermione's mind as she thought about falling asleep. Not wanting to have a nightmare again, she opted for the potion.

"No, not in my room." He answered. "Although, I'm sure Wheezy has some down in the kitchen area." Before Hermione could even tell him not to bother Winston, the house-elf appeared before them with a _crack!._

"You called, Master?" Winston bowed to Draco and then straightened up.

"Yes, Wheezy. Hermione, here, was wondering if we had any dreamless draught in the house?" Draco questioned his elf.

"Of course. Madam Narcissa takes it when she can't handle her dreams." He answered. "Miss Hermione should head to her room and the draught will be there on her night stand."

"Thank you, Wheezy." Draco dismissed him.

With another _crack!, _the house-elf was gone and only Draco and Hermione stood in the hall.

"Well, I'm sleepy so I'll be heading to bed. Goodnight." Hermione smiled at Draco and turned to walk to her bedroom before he questioned why she didn't want to dream.

"Goodnight." Draco mumbled as he watched her walk away.

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><p><strong>Leave your complaints in a review.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Hermione first asked for the dreamless draught. Two weeks she'd been able to sleep peacefully at night but those two weeks of peaceful sleep had cost her dearly during her waking hours. Sure she got a good night's rest, but during the day she got dizzy spells, was easily agitated, and her mind was getting hazy more frequently. She also found herself passing by the sitting room, in which she was tortured, more frequently as well. Her feet always led her unconsciously and when she'd be right in front of the doors, she'd snap out of the trance-like state she was in and scurry away.

None of these things went unnoticed by Draco or her friends whenever she found time to visit them. They all knew something was going on with her, but they couldn't figure out what. Even though she was sleeping through the night, dark circles were starting to appear under her eyes and she was looking rather sickly pale. She didn't know what was causing this, but she knew something was terribly wrong.

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Hermione was currently sitting in her bedroom, pieces of old parchment with neat handwriting scribbled all over them and old journals sprawled on her bed. She always had a knack for making notes about something unusual and saving it for future references if there weren't any books out there about it already. This thing she was currently researching through her notes fell under that category. No-one had ever written a book about cursed scars, not even after the whole ordeal with Harry and his connection to Voldemort. She was certain it wasn't exactly the same thing as Harry's, but she had to be certain. Ever since her first dream of Bellatrix, her scar tingled more and more.

Half and hour passed and Hermione was now laying on back in her bed, her head at the foot-board with notes held above her face. Her forehead was scrunched up in concentration when she heard a knock at her door and a muffled, _"May I come in?", _from the other side.

"Yeah. It's safe to enter." Hermione answered without throwing a glance at the door.

She heard the door open and Draco entered. His feet shuffled along the carpeted floor and he finally stood next to her bed, eyes roaming over the mess that laid around her. "What the hell are you doing?" Draco chuckled.

"Nothing." Hermione sighed. "Just some pointless research for personal reasons. Come on. Sit, lay down, or do whatever you'd like." She scooted over on her bed, still laying on her back and gestured to the empty space next to her side.

Draco took her up on the offer and laid side-by-side with Hermione, picking up one of her journals and flipping through the pages. He had only got through five pages before he saw, out of the corner of his eyes, Hermione snapped her fingers and the journal disappeared from his hands. He shrugged his shoulders and groped around the bed for something else. When his hands came up empty, he realized that everything else had vanished as well.

"That wasn't very nice." Draco mumbled and thrust his arms beneath his head.

"Yes, well it also isn't very nice to go through my personal belongings without permission." Hermione shot back.

"Yeah, yeah. You're such a fun kill." Draco mumbled. "Or is the term joy kill?"

"Buzz kill." Hermione giggled. "The term is buzz kill and I most definitely am not one."

She folded her arms behind her head just like Draco had and stared up at the ceiling. The stars twinkled above them and the two lay there in silence for a bit.

"So," Hermione started. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having you in my bedroom doing absolutely nothing?"

Draco smirked, biting back his smart ass comment that was threatening to leave his lips. "Um, you told me to remind you that the next time you visited Ginny and the gang, not to bring up wedding details."

"You know I'm telling Gin you called her by her name and not some stupid nickname, right?" Hermione grinned, turning her head to the side and looking at his facial profile.

"Please don't." He groaned. "Scarhead and the Weasel might think it's some new plot of mine to win her over."

"You're right." She muttered. "Now please leave my room so I can go shower and get ready for tonight. I don't trust you in my room unsupervised."

"Well if you invite me into the shower as well, you'll be able to supervise." Draco grinned, quickly rolling off the bed before Hermione could smack him. Instead, she rolled off the other side and laughed.

"And there's the smart ass, perverted comment I was expecting earlier." Hermione smiled. "Out!" She pointed the door.

Draco laughed heartily and then followed the path of Hermione's finger that pointed to her bedroom door. With a playful wink at her, he immediately turned and retreated out of her room.

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Hermione had finally managed to get away from the Manor and disapparated on over to Harry and Gin's ten minutes late. Having vanished all journals and parchment from Draco's view, he took it upon himself to mess with her when she was getting ready. Knowing how much Hermione liked sticking to a tight schedule, he jinxed all her clothing to jump out of reach as her hand drew near it. He sat on the outside of Hermione's bedroom door and listened to all the _thuds! _and _oomph's! _coming from inside the room. He could picture her running around in a towel and throwing herself on anything that she could possibly wear.

After a few minutes of hearing her struggle, he figured he'd give up on the prank. With a flick of his wand toward her door, he heard Hermione shout, "Finally!".

Draco laughed and yelled back, "You're welcome.", which resulted in some heavy object hitting the door from the inside of her room.

So ten minutes later, Hermione found herself at Grimmauld place, retelling her excuse for being late for the second time. Ginny laughed at silly prank and Harry only grinned for her benefit.

"Malfoy might be a git, but he's got some talent in the prank area." Ginny smiled at Hermione, gesturing towards the kitchen door. "Come on, dinner is done and we have some important news to share with you." Ginny's smile grew bigger as she glanced at Harry then back to Hermione.

Hermione followed her friends into the dining area where they all had a nice bowl of hot onion soup and pieces of bread.

After a while, the three friends sat and chatted for a while asking how their current lives were going at the moment. Harry and Ginny were going strong as ever and the smiles never left their faces as they talked about their upcoming marriage. Hermione had heard every detail of the wedding numerous times already so she rested her elbows on the table, and rested her chin in the palms of her hand. Nodding every now and then with a constant grin on her face proved to convince Ginny and Harry that she was paying attention when she really wasn't.

Ginny was in the middle of talking about who was going to sit next to who at the wedding reception when Hermione felt it. It was almost as if she could feel herself drifting away and Ginny's voice was fading. Her mind hazed over, eyes glazed over, and a buzzing sound was playing in her head.

"_You've been avoiding me, girl." Bellatrix cooed in her mind. "Don't you wish to find out why you've been getting weaker?"_

"_Weaker? I'm not getting weaker." Hermione thought._ _"You don't know what you're talking about."_

"_But surely you are." Hermione could practically see the smile in her voice._ _"If you were as strong as before, I'd only be in your dreams and not your thoughts while you're wide awake."_

"Shutup,you crazy bint!" Hermione mumbled.

The haziness lifted, the buzzing noise immediately ceased and Hermione was faced with a shocked Harry and a silently crying Ginny.

Hermione sat there dumbfounded, not knowing why her two friends were staring at her and then she realized that her scar was starting to burn beneath her sleeve. Her hand, unconsciously, went to the scar and her thumb rubbed over where the scar lay in order to soothe it. Harry seemed to have seen the small gesture but quickly masked his emotion of curiosity. Instead, he now seemed to now be angry and Ginny was still crying. In the next second, Ginny pushed back from the table and quickly left Harry alone with Hermione.

"What the hell was that all about?" Harry harshly whispered so Ginny didn't have to hear anything.

Hermione stared back at Harry and shrugged, still rubbing her scar. "I don't know. You tell me."

"Geez, Hermione. I figured you'd be a little more supportive of your friend especially now that we're expecting a child and then you call her a _crazy bint!_" He glared at his friend from across the table. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I said no such thing!" Hermione quickly defended herself. Harry quirked his eyebrow as if challenging her to say that she didn't say it. She quickly thought over what she was thinking before Ginny started crying and realized that she must have said out loud what she was thinking. "Harry, I.. I.." Not knowing how to tell Harry what really happened, she quickly pushed back from the table and stood up. The room quickly spun before her eyes and she stumbled backwards, knocking over her chair and a vase that was set behind her on a small table.

Realizing that something was wrong with Hermione, Harry quickly scanned her over before he asked her anything else. He noticed that the space beneath her eyes were slightly darker than the last time he saw her and she was looking rather pale again. Her thumb kept rubbing over her other arm but Harry didn't think nothing of it. "Hermione? Are you okay?" All anger seemed to have vanished from him and now he was worrying about her.

Sensing that Harry completely switched from anger to sympathy, something within Hermione snapped. "Don't worry about me, Potter. Go worry about your pregnant finance!" Her eyes seemed to be a shade darker and the paleness of her face only made her that much more intimidating. She stomped out from the dining area and showed herself out the door.

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><p><strong>Getting weird, huh? Leave the complaints in a review.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

It's been three long days that Hermione has last heard from Harry and Gin. She's been sending her personal owl, Onyx, to deliver her apologies to both of them but they never reply. They always take the letter from her owl so the owl would stop pestering them, but they send her original letter, unopened, back to her with their own owl. She thought that at least Harry would reply to her letters, but since Ginny was pregnant and hormonal she figured that Ginny was still very upset and Harry didn't want to do anything else to piss her off. Writing to Hermione would, more than likely, be the number one thing that would set her off at the moment.

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The following morning, Hermione was still upset that her friends weren't talking to her. She couldn't write Ron because Harry, more than likely, told him what happened already. And if he didn't contact Hermione on his own, well then he was probably siding with his sister at the moment as well.

Hermione was currently sitting on the floor of the library and staring out the floor to ceiling window. Since the library had the best view in the house overlooking the back yard, the very tall hedge maze, the many acres of vibrant green land, and the newly installed pool, she often found herself sitting before the window and thinking things over.

With her knees hugged to her chest, arms wrapped around them, and her chin resting on top of her knees, Hermione watched as the sun glistened off the surface of the water. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Harry, mainly, for lashing out at him. She didn't even know why she was so angry. One second she was freaked and confused, the next second anger washed over her and Harry was the only target around.

Sighing, she broke her concentration from the hypnotizing water and placed her forehead on her knees, closing her eyes.

"Late night last night?" The comforting voice of Draco appeared behind her. She shrugged her shoulders and heard his footsteps getting closer. "Feel like talking about it? You're never this upset after a visit with the others."

Hermione turned her head in the direction of Draco's voice. He had magically hovered the reading sofa closer to the window and set it down behind her. He was already sitting down on it and patting the empty space next to him. She slowly stood up and walked over, sat down and curled her feet beneath her, laying her head on the armrest. "I'm just tired, I guess."

"Really, Hermione?" Draco turned in his seat and faced her. "If you were tired, you'd be up in your room instead of down in the library sulking. What's wrong?"

With a couple minutes of silence and Draco not turning his gaze away from, she caved and told him what was bothering her.

Of course not everything.

She told him how she told her friends of the prank he pulled on her which caused him to laugh all over again. She told him how they chatted about anything and everything over their dinner. She then told him how Ginny decided to go over every detail about the reception all over again and how she spaced out.

She glanced at Draco and saw him fighting off a smile; he wanted to laugh because he knew how Hermione was tired of hearing all the details over and over.

She, of course, left out any detail that included the knowledge of any voice inside her head. She quickly mumbled over the part of accidentally letting the words 'crazy bint' slip out and Draco stopped her there.

"Wait, what?" He sat there wide-eyed, an amused smile displayed on his face. "You called the girl Weasley a crazy bint?"

"It wasn't really meant for her." Hermione's cheeks were now a bright pink. She was clearly embarrassed. "I was thinking about something and the words accidentally slipped out before I could stop them and Ginny thought I was talking to her."

"Why didn't you just explain it to her then?"

"I tried. Sort of. But her being pregnant and emotional didn't help at all and she stormed out of the room crying." Hermione groaned. "I tried apologizing in letters but both her and Harry are ignoring me."

"Potter is going to have an itty bitty Potter?" Draco suddenly semi-shouted.

Something inside Hermione stirred. She felt the anger slowly building and she couldn't stop it no matter how hard she tried to push it down. "Is that seriously all you have to say?"

"I'm sorry." He quickly apologized. "It's just.. wow! That kid is seriously going to be spoiled and a million protection charms will be placed over him or her. How much do you wanna bet?"

Draco seemed highly amused at how much protection the unborn child was going to have as soon as it was born. Hermione, however, only scowled and grew angrier.

"Focus, you idiot! The kid is not important at the moment!" Hermione was no longer curled up on her side of the sofa, but now sat facing Draco. A scowl on her face and anger bubbling inside her chest. Her face was now pale, eyes darker than normal. She had no idea why she was so upset with Draco but something inside her was happy about being angry. It was as if this something inside of her approved of her actions by lashing out at someone. "Why are you so fascinated with my friends lives all of a sudden? Are you so tired of being lonely that now you wish my friends would pay attention to you? Pay attention to you like how you pay attention to their lives when I tell you about them? Gosh, Draco! You're really pathetic, huh?" Hermione was now standing before a shocked and confused Draco. She was pacing back and forth before him, but he didn't stop her from ranting. He figured she had this all bottled up for quite some time now and she ought to get it all out.

"If you're really in need of some friendships beside me, go find Blaise!" She stopped pacing and stared Draco in the eye. He sat there expressionless and her eyes suddenly lit up, a malicious smile spreading across her face. "Oh, I forgot. Zabini up and left to Italy, didn't he? Not even a letter saying 'Good-bye' or anything. Some friend he turned out to be."

Even though Draco didn't let it show, that last comment stung him. Blaise was one of Draco's best mates; they had been through everything together. And then one day, without a word, he disappeared. No-one knew where Zabini had left to until a year later when Zabini popped up in The Three Broomsticks, ordered a drink, talked to the bartender, and left. News quickly spread of Zabini's reappearance but when he didn't show up to speak to Draco, Draco figured that friendship was a lost cause. Even to this day, no-one knows why he left.

Draco realized that Hermione was still smiling at him and without a word to her, he stood and turned to walk away.

Without even knowing what she had done, Hermione suddenly came to her senses and called out to him. "Where are you going?"

He gave no answer and just kept walking. After shutting the doors behind him, Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and wondered what the hell just happened.

"_It's almost complete." the voice spoke with glee. "Almost done."_

**. . .**

**. . .**

After a few hours of trying to get Draco to speak to her, Hermione gave up. She retreated to her room and locked the door behind her, walking over to her bed and laid down. She crossed her legs at the ankles and entwined her fingers together beneath her head, staring up at the enchanted ceiling of twinkling stars.

She tried combing through her memories to figure out why Draco was ignoring her but she came up blank. Nothing was there. She only remembered sitting at the window and staring into the water from the pool, then Draco walking out of the library upset. She had no idea what happened in between. Figuring it had something to deal with her secret that she was keeping from everyone, she let it go for the time being. She closed her eyes, counting to the highest number she could reach before falling asleep.

**. . .**

**. . .**

_Hermione found herself sitting in front of the window in the library, staring out at the shimmering water in the pool. Feeling a presence beside her, Hermione found herself sitting next to _herself_ only it didn't really look like her. The girl sitting beside her, dream-Hermione, looked sick. She was paler than Hermione normally is and her eyes looked sunken into her face. Everything about dream-Hermione had a dark aura around her that didn't seem right._

"_You wanted to know what happened with Draco." Bellatrix suddenly spoke. "I shall let you see then."_

_Hermione didn't even flinch when she saw Bellatrix. She had already grew accustomed to seeing her and hearing her voice that it didn't seem like a big deal to her at all anymore. Hermione continued to watch as Draco walked in and hovered the sofa behind them. She saw him gesture for the dream-Hermione to sit next to him and then they started to speak._

_She listened intently and flinched when she saw dream-Hermione get angry. She watched as dream-Hermione lashed out at Draco and brought up Blaise into the conversation. Even Hermione knew that was a low-blow and instantly felt bad for what had happened. Draco eventually left the room and watched as dream-Hermione seemed to snap out of a trance. _

_Hermione wanted to cry. _

_How could she do that to the one person that gave her a place to live and constantly made sure she was okay?_

"_That wasn't real." Hermione finally gathered up enough courage to speak. "I would never do that to Draco. What she did was too cruel."_

_Bellatrix laughed her evil laugh and smiled at Hermione. "Of course that wasn't you, you silly girl. That was the _newyou_ breaking out for a moment. Yes, the new you is coming along very well."_

"_What d-do you mean?" Hermione muttered. "New me? You really are crazy, Bellatrix!"_

_The same malicious smile that dream-Hermione wore minutes ago now appeared on Bellatrix. "You'll find out soon enough. It's almost complete. Almost done."_

A loud _crack! _sounded in Hermione's room and her eyes snapped open. It was still during the day, a little after 1PM to be exact, and Winston was holding a tray of food at the foot of her bed. "Master said to make sure that Miss Granger got her meal." Winston bowed as far as he could with a tray of food in his hands.

"Oh. T-thanks." Hermione sat up and crawled across her bed, taking the tray from Winston. "Can you tell Dra-.."

"Master wishes not to be disturbed, Miss." Winston quickly shook his head from side-to-side; ears flapping from side-to-side. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell him anything until he summons me again."

Hermione felt horrible. She didn't want to believe the dream that she just had, but why else would Draco be avoiding her and not wanting to be disturbed? Her eyes suddenly got watery and she nodded her head. Winston bowed one last time and vanished_. _

She glanced down at the tray in her hands and noticed that she had a glass of her favorite dark pop and a plate of sandwiches and slices of pickles on the side. Next to the plate was a small card that simply read, "Eat something. You were looking rather sick earlier."

**. . .**

**. . .**

Hours later, still with no word from Draco or Winston, Hermione decided she'd take a shower and get some sleep. The sun had long went down and the moon and stars were high up in the sky, twinkling down on everything.

She was gathering up clothes to take with her in the bathroom when she heard the familiar _crack!_ of Winston appearing in her room. He had no tray of food and he seemed slightly jumpy, as if he was there doing something he didn't really want to.

"I am really sorry to disturb the Miss, but Master Draco has asked me to bring her out of her room." Winston quickly spoke, walking as slowly as he could towards Hermione.

"It's okay, Winston." Hermione assured him, hoping he'd stop looking guilty about something. "Can you please tell him I'm taking a shower and I'll be down in a moment?"

"No, no. That won't do." Winston shook his head. "Master Draco said to be down now!" And before Hermione knew what was going on, Winston ran up to her and grabbed her around the wrist. She felt the familiar sensation of being pushed through a tight tube and swirling in mid-air when her feet met solid ground again. "I'm so sorry to do that," Winston backed away from Hermione. "But Master Draco said to even though I was scared you would be mad if I did it. I'm so-"

"It's okay, Winston. Thank you for bringing her out." Draco called out. "You may go back inside."

Happy to be away from anything that might go wrong, Winston disappeared inside.

Hermione was standing there confused, feeling almost sad that Winston thought she'd ever be mad with him. Turning around to the spot where Draco's voice came from, she found him seated by the side of the pool, his legs dangling in the water. He didn't turn to address her standing behind him so she slowly walked up and took a seat next to him. Since she was already barefoot and in shorts, she let her legs slip into the water as well.

She let a couple minutes of silence pass between them just to make sure he didn't push her away. When he didn't, she decided to break it. "Draco, I'm really sorry for-"

"It's okay. You seemed stress and I just thought you'd like to get that off your chest."

"No, but it wasn't that." Hermione sighed, almost in tears because she knew she couldn't tell him the truth. "It's just-"

"Hermione, let it go." Draco turned his head to face her. "I'll let it slide if you let this slide."

"Let wh-" and before Hermione could even finish, Draco lifted his arm and pushed Hermione by her shoulder into the pool.

She fell in with a shriek and sank halfway down before she started to swim back up. With her hair matted down to her forehead and cheeks, she glared angrily at Draco and spat water out at him. Draco was roaring with laughter that he didn't care Hermione had spat water out at him. He was clutching his stomach and smiling bright at Hermione from his sitting position.

"That was uncalled for!" Hermione shrieked at him; splashing water at him in the process.

"Yeah, well so was bringing up that I have no friends." Draco retorted. When he saw Hermione frown, he quickly added, "Well at least according to you I have no friends."

Hermione heard a splash behind her and quickly turned to see who it was. The person who jumped in never resurfaced but she did see someone swimming beneath the water towards her. She turned to ask Draco who it was but before the question could even leave her mouth, she was pulled beneath the water. Squirming and wiggling to get free and resurface, the person who had their hands over her shoulders started to turn her around. When Hermione came face to face with a grinning George Weasley, she shoved him away with her hands and swam upward; gasping for air.

"George!" She shouted at Draco. "Why, what.. what is he doing here?"

George resurfaced next to her and started laughing, pulling himself up out of the pool with the help of Draco. When he sat down next to him and then he too just smiled down at Hermione, she grew really confused.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Well, my dear little Gryfindor, this is what I call a friend." Draco nodded his head toward George. "I figured it was about time we let you know that we actually don't dislike each other any more."

Hermione was still in shock that she just stayed in one spot, constantly moving her legs and arms so she wouldn't sink. Finally, she found her voice. "You two are actually friends? No more name calling and what not?"

"Nope." George answered. "All good. Turns out Draco has a love for pranks and I found him shopping around the joke shop one day."

"Yeah. And then when he found out I was trying to prank you, he warned me not to buy anything from the shop because you'd go after both of us." Draco added in. "So he taught me that neat jinx to mess with you."

"That was you!" Hermione swatted George's knees. "It took me forever to catch my clothes."

The three of them stared at each other for a brief moment and then they all broke out laughing.

"So, is all forgiven?" Hermione mumbled, staring up at Draco.

He smirked down at her and nodded. "All's forgiven."

George then leaned back from his sitting position and pushed Draco into the pool. He yelled and soon his yell was muffled by the pool water. Hermione laughed even harder than before and George jumped in soon after. All three of them swam around, splashing each other and dragging each other beneath the water just to waste time. George had managed to sit Hermione on his shoulders but it didn't last long because Draco swam by and threw off George's balance.

After an hour of swimming under the moon and stars, they called it a night. George and Draco pulled themselves out from the pool and they both pulled out Hermione as well. Hermione, since she had mastered wandless magic, magically dried herself off as well as the boys.

All three of them were joking and laughing as they walked up to the back double doors of the house when Hermione suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Both boys, who were on either side of her, stopped a couple steps ahead of her and turned to see what was wrong. As they both made eye contact with her, all traces of laughter and smiles from her face had vanished. Her mouth was set in a straight line, her eyes once again darker than normal, and her face paler than usual. She opened her mouth to tell them something when she suddenly crumpled to the floor and started twitching violently.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hermione? HERMIONE!"

Both Draco and George watched as she fell to the floor and both at the same time dropped to their knees at her side. Draco crawled around to her head and gently lifted her head, placing it in his lap.

"What's wrong with her?" George was holding down her arms in hopes that she wouldn't harm herself since she was still twitching.

"I don't know. I don't know." Draco repeated. "Wheezy! Wheezy, hurry!"

The house-elf suddenly appeared and instead of addressing his Master, he stared, also completely at a loss for words as Hermione shook on the floor.

"Wheezy, look at me!" Draco snapped his fingers at the elf. "I need you to make a quick trip to St. Mungos and bring me Dean Thomas. He's one of the best Healers there. And hurry!" With a quick nod of the head, Wheezy disappeared.

"What the hell did you send a house-elf to St. Mungos for?" George finally spoke up after Wheezy had left, not wanting to offend the elf. "Why didn't we just take her there ourselves?"

Hermione had finally stopped twitching, but she didn't open her eyes and she still looked deathly sick. "Because I'm a Malfoy. One look at me and they'll send us away no matter who is in need of assistance." He answered. "Come on, let's move her to her bedroom."

George quickly whipped out his wand and muttered _mobilicorpus, _hovering Hermione's body so Draco could lead the way to her bedroom.

As soon as they had laid Hermione on her bed, a _crack!_ sounded in the room and a man was yelling. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? WHO IS YOUR MASTER?" Dean yelled, his back was facing the two men behind him and an unconscious Hermione.

Wheezy, who looked frightened at being yelled at, tilted his head to the side and pointed behind him. Dean stopped yelling and turned to see what the elf pointed at and when he saw George and Draco standing there, he grew confused.

"Weasley? And Malfoy? What's going on.." but as his eyes landed on Hermione, his sentence trailed off. "Hermione?"

Draco walked forward, his hands held out in front of him so Dean didn't think he was up to anything funny. "I'm sorry we sent a house-elf after you, but it's important." Dean stood quiet, wanting to hear the so-called important excuse. "Something is wrong with Hermione. She hasn't been herself lately and just a few moments ago, she collapsed and starting twitching as if she was having a seizure."

Dean glanced back at George and when he nodded, saying that was Draco just said was true, he walked forward to Hermione's bedside. "Then why didn't you just take her to St. Mungos?"

"Because.." Draco gritted out through clenched teeth.

George saw that he was quickly getting agitated so he took over for him explaining. "Hey, Draco. I'll explain what's going on and you go owl Ginny and Harry. Let them know what's going on."

"She's your sister. Why do I have to do it?"

"Because she'll think I'm playing a prank on her when I tell her where I'm at. Just go do it so Dean can start checking on Hermione."

With a few seconds of hesitation, Draco gave in and left the room letting George explain everything to Dean. He quickly made his way to the extra room where they kept their owls. He would've used Hermione's owl but since they were ignoring her at the moment, he didn't think they'd read the note.

He found a blank piece of parchment and a quill on the writing desk and scribbled a quick note to Hermione's friends.

_Something has happened to Hermione. She's currently unconscious and I have Dean Thomas looking over her at the moment. I know you've been avoiding her, but I think it would mean a lot to her knowing that you came when she needed her friends the most._

_We're at Malfoy Manor, I'm sure you know how to get here._

Quickly re-reading over his note and making sure he said what he needed to say, he summoned Midnight, the brother owl to Hermione's and sent it on it's way.

He had barely managed to enter Hermione's room when there was a pecking at the window. Dean was waving his wand over Hermione's limp form and muttering incantations so George quickly opened the window and let the owl in. The owl flew towards Draco and dropped a red envelope at his feet.

George's eyebrows rose behind his flaming red hair falling over his forehead and chuckled. "She sent you back a howler?"

Draco shrugged and wanting to get it over with as soon as possible, he opened the envelope and watched at is rose in front of his face and started to shout.

"DRACO MALFOY! YOU TELL US OUR FRIEND IS UNCONSCIOUS AND FOR US TO FLOO OVER IMMEDIATELY, BUT YOU DIDN'T CONNECT YOUR NETWORK TO OURS! YOU OPEN IT THIS INSTANT OR I'LL HEX YOU INTO LAST YEAR!" The howler stopped shouting and ripped it self up, pieces falling to the floor next to Draco's feet.

Draco looked up since Dean was no longer muttering incantations and was faced with two amused looking men staring at him.

"Pregnant women." George chuckled. "Gotta love those raging hormones."

Draco snorted and running out of the room, ran downstairs to open up the floo network so Hermione's friends could come through.

**. . . **

**. . .**

_Hermione knew she wasn't exactly sleeping this time. She remembered that she was out swimming with George and Draco and they were walking into the house when _it _happened. Her mind didn't give off no warning sign, no haziness, no buzzing. She just stopped moving and instantly slipped into her mind, causing her body to give up on her and fall. _

_This time, instead of being in the forest, she was standing in the middle of the sitting room where she was once tortured. Sitting in the chair that was a few feet in front of her was none other than Bellatrix. _

"_It's almost complete." Bellatrix maliciously grinned. "Almost done."_

"_Why do you keep saying that?" Hermione, deciding that she didn't want to seem scared, crossed her arms across her chest to show that she was going to stand her ground. "What's almost done?"_

_Bellatrix leaned forward in her chair, legs slightly spread, and each arm resting on either leg. "Oh, now the little girl wishes to know what's going on? I could've told you before but you kept avoiding me."_

"_Well now it seems that I'm stuck here, so speak!" Hermione demanded, her anger slipping out of her control._

"_As you wish." Bellatrix smiled, tucking her chin towards her chest and looking at Hermione through her dark eyelashes. She gave off the evil attitude that Hermione used to fear so long ago. "You see, after The Dark Lord came back into his power and broke me out from Azkaban, I decided to brush up on my knowledge of the Dark Arts. You'd be surprised at the delightful books Lucius once kept in his library." Bellatrix quickly stood up and started to walk, circling around Hermione. "I found this crafty little curse in one of the books that almost worked as a Horcrux, but not exactly." At the word, _horcrux, _Hermione tensed for a fraction of a second but quickly regained her posture. If Bellatrix had a horcrux out there somewhere, they were in trouble. "The curse said something about choosing a victim, have them spill blood and mix my blood within their wound. The essence of magic, whether it be light or dark, will transfer into the wounded and contaminate them. Their magic would slowly turn against them and turn the personality of the infected as well."_

_Hermione gasped, her eyes going wide and clutched her arm where Bellatrix had once carved the word _'mudblood'_. There wasn't much bloodshed, but she still had bleed._

_When Bellatrix saw that Hermione had pieced together the information, she darkly chuckled. "Yes. The thing that is almost done is you, my dear. Your magic is turning dark as well as your personality. Those you hold dear to you will mean nothing because they are light and you are dark."_

"_NO!" Hermione shouted, silent tears falling down her cheeks. "There's no such curse at that."_

"_Of course there is." Bellatrix retorted. "Why else would you be here talking to me right now. This surely isn't a nightmare; even you know that. You can feel that what I'm telling you is correct and a little part of you is actually craving the darkness right now, isn't it?"_

_Hermione stopped talking and started to feel within herself. Bellatrix was correct. There was some part inside of her that was welcoming the darkness. The same part of her that was delighted to release it's anger on Harry a couple days ago._

"_Why?" Hermione sobbed. "Why me? I'm muggleborn! Your kind hate my kind!"_

"_Yes, well," Bellatrix shrugged. "You were supposed to be a present for The Dark Lord. He only wanted Harry dead. You would've been punished for helping the Chosen One, but you would've lived. It would've done wonders to have the brightest witch ever since Rowena Ravenclaw on the dark side."_

"_But you lost! The light side won!"_

"_Yes, well. That doesn't matter anymore, does it?" Bellatrix started walking towards her chair again and sat down. "Now this should be fun. Having to watch Harry Potter lose his best friend to the dark side. Simply amazing."_

"_You're a crazy bitch!" Hermione snapped, her fist hanging by her sides now, clenched. "They'll find a way to save me. One of them could find out what's happening and mix their blood in mine. I'll go back to the light side again!"_

_Bellatrix smiled yet again and waggled her finger from side-to-side at Hermione._ _"Without the right incantation, their blood mingling within yours is pointless. Your friends can't help you now."_

**. . .**

**. . .**

"THIS IS STUPID!" Ron bellowed, pacing back and forth across Hermione's room "SHE NEEDS TO BE ADMITTED TO ST. MUNGOS; NOT KEPT IN THIS PLACE!"

"And we've already been over this," George dead-panned, glaring daggers at his younger brother. "You know we can't do that. Malfoy won't be able to get in because they're still prejudiced against the Malfoys."

Ron snorted and threw himself into an empty chair, his eyes focused on Hermione and silently begging her to wake up.

After Draco had connected his floo to Grimmauld Place, Harry, Ginny, and Ron instantly floo'd through. There's was lots of yelling and threatening the use of hexes, on Ginny's part, against Malfoy but Harry was the only one with a level head. He knew something was wrong with her before and that Malfoy had nothing to do with it.

When Draco had shown them where Hermione was, Ginny instantly broke down into tears and fell down to her knees, clutching Hermione's hand within hers. Harry stood there; not believing that the person lying in bed was his friend and Ron was busy calling George a traitor for befriending Malfoy.

Dean stood on the opposite side of the bed and was using every incantation he knew as a Healer but nothing was helping. He told them that something was definitely wrong with her, but he couldn't figure it out. It was as if there was something within Hermione that was protecting her from being healed.

Draco, of course, wouldn't have it so he sent Dean back to St. Mungos and told him to gather up his entire team and get back as soon as possible. He'd pay them well as long as they did their job and found out what was wrong with her.

**. . .**

**. . .**

It had been ten minutes that Dean was gone.

Ten minutes that everyone was sitting on edge, waiting for any sign that she was going to wake up and nothing would be wrong.

"Harry?" Ginny whispered so she didn't fully disrupt the silence in the room. "I need to head home and get something to eat since you know.." She trailed off. "Do you want anything when I come back?"

"No need." Draco spoke, his gaze never leaving Hermione. "Wheezy!"

With the usual _crack!_, Wheezy appeared. "Yes, Master?"

"This is Harry Potter and his family." He pointed out Harry, Ginny, Ron, and George. "Miss Ginny is eating for two now so she needs some food to keep her healthy. Can you whip something up for her, please?"

The house-elf turned towards Ginny, waiting to hear what she would want.

"Oh, no, don't. You really don't have to do that, Malfoy." Ginny kindly turned down the offer.

"Yes I do. You lot are Hermione's family so you need to be here. Wheezy will bring you whatever food you want and he'll make up the guest rooms for you as well. You all can stay here tonight." Draco assured her.

Ron stopped his pacing and was gaping at Malfoy's generosity, Ginny and Harry were speechless, and George was the only one with a slight trace of a smile adorning his lips.

"Er, thanks."

Ginny bent low, mumbling to Wheezy what she felt like eating and he soon left, fetching the food for her.

Everyone grew quiet once again and Ron went back to his pacing. Draco was the only one who kept his gaze directly on Hermione and he saw the fingers on her left hand twitch. Before he could point out to everyone what he just saw, Hermione's upper body lifted from the bed with her eyes still closed and she gasped out, "Help me!".


	6. Chapter 6

Six hours had passed since the words _"Help me!" _left Hermione's lips. As soon as she gasped the words out, her body fell back onto the bed and she hadn't moved or talked since. It was as if she went to sleep.

Dean Thomas and his team of healers showed up in the earlier hours, but none of them could seem to figure out what was wrong. After a couple hours of working over Hermione's body, since it didn't seem like she was in critical condition to them, Draco sent the healers home and told them to get rest; he'd call them back if there was any change.

Ron and George had long ago gone to sleep after Ron asked Wheezy for food. Wheezy overdid himself and practically whipped up a feast that pleased Ron and he fell asleep in his assigned guest room. George, who didn't think there was anything they could do, asked Wheezy to show him to his room and fell asleep as well. Both men had just told everyone else to wake them if anything happened.

Harry, Ginny, and Draco were the only ones who really wanted to be by Hermione's side. Harry and Ginny because they practically grew up together and Draco.. well Draco had lived with her for the past couple of years.

**. . .**

**. . .**

Another three hours later and nothing had changed. The only thing that did change was that Harry and Draco had managed to persuade Ginny to get some sleep. Draco and Harry both sat in comfortable armchairs on either side of Hermione's bed and waited. What they were waiting for, they didn't exactly know.

Draco sighed, rubbing the palms of his hands over and face and eyes. He ran his fingers through his own hair and reached over to the bedside table where his butterbeer sat that Wheezy brought him. He took a quick sip and placed it back in it's spot.

Harry sighed as well, but his main attention was on Draco. He watched as Draco worried, more than even himself, over Hermione. He could see it plainly written all over Draco's face that he was terrified he couldn't do anything for her.

"How long have you liked her?"

The sudden question didn't seem to have phased Draco one bit. He figured that they would've figured out his secret anyway. "About a month or two after she gave me a chance to start fresh with her." He answered honestly. There was no use in hiding it anymore. "She over-looked the whole 'ex-deatheater' thing when everyone else avoided me."

The whole time that Draco answered Harry's question, his gaze had never left Hermione's unmoving form. Harry followed his gaze back to his best friend and nodded along. "That's Hermione for you. The do-gooder."

Draco smirked for a split second then went back to worrying; Harry too.

Sleep was finally catching up to both men and their eyes were drooping shut every few seconds.

**. . .**

**. . .**

The bed creaked, covers were pushed back, and Hermione crawled to the end of her bed. She slowly stood on both legs and stretched her arms high above her head. She twisted her back to the right, let it crack and then twisted to the left, letting it crack again. She turned her neck from side-to-side at an odd angle and relished in the cracking noise it made.

Upon hearing the noises, both men jumped up from their chairs and scanned the bed only to find it empty. They heard a noise behind them and found Hermione slowly walking around the room, her back facing them.

"Hermione!" Harry shouted. "You're awake!"

Hearing a name being shouted, she turned to the source of the noise and scowled at the two men. Harry, who was in the act of rushing towards her to pull her into a hug, quickly stopped in mid-step. It _was _Hermione, but it wasn't _their _Hermione.

Draco who had stayed back and wanted Harry to greet his friend first stood shocked. The Hermione before them looked different. Her hair wasn't it's usual frizzy waves, but slicked waves that cascaded down passed her shoulders. Her usually tanned skin was as pale as Draco's. Her usually plump cheeks were no longer there; instead her cheeks were sunken in and her cheekbones stuck out giving her the aristocratic look. She walked with a grace that their Hermione never actually held and her eyes.. her eyes is what made them feel very uncomfortable.

Her normal chocolate colored eyes that shone upon them were gone and in their place was pure blackness. No sign of white anywhere in her eyes. Just pure black.

She grinned maliciously at Harry and quirked her eyebrow. "The friend you seek is no longer here."

Harry couldn't find his voice to reply so Draco did it for him. "What do you mean she's no longer here? You are Hermione, aren't you?"

"Yes.. and no." the darkness spoke. She walked along the built-in bookshelf and ran the tip of her fingers along their spines, turning her back on Draco and Harry once more.

"What does that mean?" Draco's voice cracked.

She stopped all of a sudden and grinned, facing Draco. "I'll tell you, but he has to leave." She pointed her index finger in Harry's direction. Draco followed the finger's path and caught Harry's expression.

"No. No, I'm not leaving. I want to know too." Harry demanded at once.

Draco kept quiet, not wanting to argue with him but also very anxious to find out what was going on. The darkness switched her grinning gaze from Draco to Harry and slowly lifted her left hand in the air, palm facing Harry. "Out!", was all she said and Harry was sent flying through the bedroom door.

The door clicked shut, magically locked itself and a silencing charm was set so no-one could hear what was going on in the room and they weren't disturbed with the noises from outside.

Draco gaped at what she had just done and didn't know what to do. On one hand, he felt comfortable because it was just Hermione. But on the other hand, it wasn't Hermione.

"You have me alone now." Draco said. "Now tell me what's going on."

The darkness waltzed toward Draco and slid her hand from shoulder to shoulder as she made her way back to the bed. She crawled up to the headboard and sat down, her back leaning on the headboard and her legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles. "Fine. I will."

And so she told him.

She told him everything that she had told Hermione about blood mingling and magic conversion. The pureness within Hermione was slowly turning against her and soon they wouldn't be able to help her anymore. The Hermione they knew and loved was slowly diminishing within and they'd never see her again.

Draco sat and listened intently; heart pounding wildly with all this new information. When she had finished speaking, he asked the one question she knew he'd ask. "How can I save her?" The darkness sat, the very un-Hermione like grin upon her face. When she didn't answer, Draco spoke again. "For every curse, there's a way around it. Tell me how to save her!" He demanded.

After a few moments of silence and the look on her face as if she was calculating something vanished; she answered him. "If I tell you how to save her, it must be you who does it. None of her friends must be involved especially the Potter boy."

Draco sat shocked, not quite believing that she'd tell him the truth but he still seemed eager to know more. He leaned forward in his seat and nodded. "Okay. I'll do it."

**. . .**

**. . .**

Harry stood just outside Hermione's room and continuously pounded on the door, trying to get them to open it. "DRACO! LET ME IN! I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO SAVE HER." He shouted at the door. When no answer came back, he whipped out his wand and muttered every spell he knew on how to open or unlock a door. Nothing worked.

With all the noise he had cause, he had managed to wake up the small Weasley clan.

"_OI!" _Ron shouted, rubbing the rest of his sleep from his eyes. "What's the matter?" George walked behind him also rubbing his eyes, and Ginny was shuffling towards him; her eyes practically still shut.

"It's Hermione!" He answered. "But it's not really Hermione. I-I don't know what's going on though. She's not herself and she threw me from the room with magic and kept Draco in there."

Everyone stood still, eyes completely opened, and slowly took in what Harry had just told them. He went back to pounding on the door and before anyone could ask him to repeat what he just said, the door swung open and an expressionless Draco walked out.

"What happened?" Harry demanded. "Why did she choose you to stay?"

Draco didn't answer but walked away from them and down the hallway. The group of friends peered into the room and saw Hermione sitting against the headboard. The grin still etched onto her face.

"Hermione!" Ron breathed, a smile overcoming his face. "You're awake." It was as if Ron didn't pay attention to anything Harry just said and he rushed into the room, ready to hug his friend.

A scowl overcame her face and again she lifted her hand into the air, palm facing Ron and said, "Stop!".

The smile left Ron's face as he hit face first into an invisible wall she threw up.

Ginny, George, and Harry walked slowly into the room and took a good look at the Hermione that sat before them. To everyone, but Harry, she looked weird. She wasn't the usual cheerful friend they knew; she gave off the impression that she wasn't someone to mess with.

Footsteps entered the room and everyone turned to see Draco walking back in, his face void of emotion as he placed a vial containing black liquid on the desk.

"What's happened to her?" Ginny mumbled; silent tears falling down her face again.

No-one spoke as Draco walked up to the bed and took a seat next what everyone thought was their friend. She smirked at him and held out her palm for him to take. Draco clenched his jaw and withdrew his wand. Everyone tensed in the room but what Draco did next left them speechless and confused.

Draco ran the tip of wand across Hermione's palm and watched as he cut her palm open. He then held the wand tip to his own free hand and cut himself as well. Hermione's face broke out into the biggest smile anyone had ever seen grace her face. Her teeth bared and her face contorted into that of a greedy person wanting power.

"Before I do this, I want to speak with her one last time." Draco dead-panned.

Her smile fell and she eyed Draco warily. "If I do this for you, then you must not go back on our deal."

"What deal?" George asked.

Neither of them answered, but Draco silently nodded his head.

Hermione's body went limp for a second, but she quickly sat straight up; tears welling up in her eyes.

"Draco?" Her eyes danced back and forth between him and her friends behind him. Everyone seemed confused. "Harry.. Gin.. there's nothing you can do. She told me I can't be saved."

The tears fell down faster and Ginny broke out into loud sobs. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her up so she wouldn't fall. Everyone looked tired and scared, everyone but Draco.

He picked up her cut hand and traced lines around the cut. "There is." He mumbled. "But in helping you, it means someone else has to take the curse within them."

Hermione let out a gut-wrenching sob and pulled her injured hand from Draco's grasp. "No. I won't let anyone do that. The curse can take me and then.. then.."

"It's already been decided." And with that, Draco took back her injured hand and clasped it with his.

Their cuts touched, blood mingled and Draco mumbled a specific incantation that he was told to say. A bright purple light started in Hermione's upper arm and slowly started to travel downwards to her cut hand and to where Draco's cut lay open.

Hermione looked up from their clasped hands and found Draco staring at her with tears in his own eyes. She looked behind at her friends and saw that they were yelling and shouting, but their voices seemed to be muted. They tried getting closer to the bed but something was keeping them held back.

"I love you." Draco whispered. Hermione's eyes shot back to him sitting before her and a fresh wave of tears fell. "I've loved you for a long time and I'm not expecting anything from you, but I just thought you should know. If I had let this curse take you over, they'd never see your smile or hear your laugh again. Your friends wouldn't be able to live with themselves if they watched their Golden Girl switch to the dark side. I couldn't live with myself if I had let you go to the dark side." He dropped his gaze down to their hands and watched as the purple glow was now sitting in his hand, traveling up his arm. "She agreed to let you go if someone else took the curse into themselves.."

"You can't sacrifice yourself, Draco." Hermione cried. "Do you think I would be able to live with myself if you do this?"

"Yes." He answered. "You'll have all your friends to get you through it. It'll be okay. It'll all be okay." The light finally made it to his upper arm and the light disappeared. Everyone got their voice back, but they still couldn't move. "I've left Wheezy to you. He answers to you now.. and Mother whenever she needs him. Stay safe, Hermione."

The shouting behind them died away as Draco leaned forward and kiss her forehead, his lips lingering there for a few seconds longer than normal.

"_Accio liquid death." _

Everyone's eyes grew wide and there was an instant protest within the room.

"No! You can't!"

"Draco, mate, don't do this."

"Malfoy, don't be a lunatic."

"I'm sorry, but it has to be this way." He stood from the bed out of reach from everyone's grasp. "If I die with the curse inside me, the curse dies as well."

Without another word, an apologetic glance at Hermione, he lifted the vial up to his lips and gulped down the potion. Within seconds, the vial fell from his hand and Draco collapsed to the floor.


	7. Epilogue

Today would make it a year that Hermione lived without Draco in her life.

He had taken his own life so that Hermione would remain the same pure girl he fell in love with and the Wizarding world didn't have to worry about a new Dark Wizard rising to power. After his funeral, which Hermione took the hardest out of everyone, she remained living in Malfoy Manor with Narcissa. Her friends did everything in their power to make her see that it wasn't healthy for her to continue living there, but she did it anyway. She stayed in the Manor with Wheezy, as she now called him, and made sure Narcissa was getting along okay. Of course Narcissa barely left her wing, but when she did, Hermione was there whenever she was needed. On the nights that Hermione couldn't cope with the guilt, she'd break down and cry until Wheezy picked up the pieces for her and led her back to her room.

Months and months, her friends tried to get her out of the Manor but she never left. She got lost within herself and didn't feel like doing anything she normally liked doing. Going out with friends didn't seem fun anymore. Attending parties and get togethers seemed pointless. And talking about her feelings, whenever Ginny suggested it, never helped anything in a good way.

They pushed and pulled so much to make Hermione get better that she ended up shutting them out from the Manor and removing herself from their lives.

**. . .**

**. . .**

Night quickly fell and Hermione only grew more miserable. The guilt was eating her alive and she didn't know how much longer she could take it. Instead of heading to her room, she decided that she'd sleep in Draco's room for the night.

She walked slowly around the dark room and gently smiled, but the smile wasn't anything like she used to smile. She ran her fingertips along his desk top and over the back of his desk chair. She passed in front of his opened closet and took in all his black, white, blue, and green button down dress shirts that she loved so much on him.

She closed the doors to his closet and continued on her way to his bed. Since his bed was higher than normal, she had to hop upward just to climb on. She crawled over the comforter and crawled beneath it, turning on her side and burying her face in his pillow. Even though a year had passed since he last used it, it still held his natural scent in it's fabric. She buried her face deeper into it and closed her eyes, hiding the tears behind her eyelids.

"_I love you." _His words swam through her head and she could no longer hold back the sob that was desperately trying to escape.

She sobbed and sobbed, for what seemed like hours, and then slowly she started to calm down. She'd hiccup every now and then, and wipe her nose on the sleeve of shirt so she didn't dirty Draco's belongings.

Her eyes soon grew heavy with sleep and she shut them; not being able to hold them open anymore. Before she could succumb to her dreams, a bright light glowed within the room but she didn't open her eyes. She could see the light through her eyelids, but she figured it was just Wheezy opening the bedroom door and checking to see if she was in there.

The light quickly faded away and she was left in complete darkness. She snuggled deeper into the warmth of the bed and pillows and the bed space behind her dipped as if someone was there. Thinking that her mind was just playing tricks on her, she never looked.

A body pressed up against her from behind and an arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close. "You stayed." A voice murmured. Hermione, who thought she was dreaming, managed a smile that reached her eyes. The voice that spoke was one that she prayed for over and over to hear again. The voice of Draco Malfoy. He nuzzled his nose along her ear and breathed in her scent. "I've missed you so much, Hermione."

She smiled though tears were falling from behind her closed eyelids and her body shook with silent sobs. "I'm so sorry you had die, Draco. I didn't want anyone to die for me."

"It's okay, love, it's okay. I'm here now."

Those few words made her crack. "You're not. Oh, how I wish what you were saying were true. You're dead and it's all my fault." She cried.

"Hermione." He gripped her shoulder and tried to turn her to face him. "Hermione, look at me. I'm here. I'm right here."

She turned slightly but shook off his grip. "No! If I look at you, it'll be like all my other dreams." Her voice shook. "If I look at you, you'll vanish the next second and I'll wake up. J-just talk to me, please? Stay a little longer and talk." He didn't answer her. Instead, he pulled his arm back and slid backward off the bed.

Hermione thought that he had disappeared like he always did in her dreams, so she quickly turned to where he was just at a few moments ago and opened her eyes. There, standing next to the bed, was Draco. A smug smirk plastered on his face and his hands held behind his back.

When he didn't disappear, Hermione pushed herself up in a sitting position and slid over to the side of the bed; her legs dangling towards the floor, completely ignoring the fact that it was impossible for her to be seeing this. "I've missed you." She admitted; smiling and bringing her hands upward to cup his cheeks in her palms, smiling even bigger as he leaned into her touch. "I'd never thought I'd get to do that again."

Draco smirked against her palms and kissed the inside of the hand that he cut long ago. "Well get used to it," he turned to the other hand and kissed her palm. "I'm here to stay."

"That's impossible, but I'll believe it for tonight."

Draco figured she'd say that and it only caused him to chuckle. "I'm being serious, Hermione. They sent me back for you."

Hermione's eyes connected with his and when she saw no sign of humor in his face, she pulled her hands away from him and pinched herself as hard as she could. "OUCH!"

"Finally convinced yourself you're not dreaming?" Draco smirked.

Hermione rubbed the spot she just pinched and stared up at Draco speechless. She wanted to ask him _"How?", _but couldn't make herself speak.

And as if he had knew that she was going to ask, he answered her unspoken question. "I believe muggles call them guardian angels, but Witches and Wizards call them.."

"..Guardians of Magic." Hermione finished for him.

When he nodded his head, Hermione asked, "Why? Out of everyone else, why would they send you to me?"

"Because," He answered. "After I died you spiraled into a deep depression. All your friends knew you were heading into dangerous territory and they tried to help you out. But instead, you pushed them away and locked yourself in here with my Mother. When I left you, Hermione, I didn't want you to give up on your life." She quickly broke eye contact with him and looked away in shame. "The elders above didn't want to see such a bright young Witch get lost in misery, so they sent me back to you. I'm here to make sure you get back on track and help you live out the rest of your life, if you'll let me, of course."

His hands were now holding hers, fingers entwined. "You're really back." Hermione smiled through her tears. "For good?"

"Goodness, Hermione, is that all you've got to say?" Draco mocked annoyance.

She gently pushed him back and quickly stood, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her face buried into the side of his neck and his face buried in her hair. "Merlin, Draco, I love you."

He seemed to cling tighter to her after those words and brought her in closer to his body.

"I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>The End.<strong>

**What can I say, I love happy endings.**

**Leave complaints or compliments in a review!**

**And I'll be posting a different story soon ;)**


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